In the eyes of a child
by TheGirlInTheMentalHospital
Summary: Clopin meets Esmerelda, offering her a home after escaping the Palace of Justice. R and R please.


**Just a random one-shot I did due to this saying that I can't seem to get out of my head ever since I watched Silent Hill the movie.**

**And it's actually true, this saying. Let's see if you can figure it out. The title is actually part of it. This stroy is also about how I think Clopin met Esmerelda, not Hugo's version but Disney. I both like the book and the movie!  
**

**Now, on with the story.**

**Disclaimer: Me own nothing! just my  
**

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**In the eyes of a child**

Pain coursed through out his body, making him gasp out loud and groan. He shakily struggled to get back on his feet, feeling woozy from hanging limp on the chains that bind him here. He hissed when the wounds on his body stung in a noticeably way. The cold air seemed to press down o his frail form while the crimson pool of blood was seen below him. The dirty bandages half-heartedly wrapped around the wounds were covered with dried up blood, along with dirt and grim all over it. The cold cell was only occupied by he himself and saw that he was at the furthest away from the other criminals because he saw no other person in the cells around him.

Chuckling at himself, Clopin wondered what sort of predicament he gotten himself into.

Wincing at the stinging coming from his back, he remembered.

He was only waling around the streets of Paris in mid December, wearing his usual purple outfit but with a long, black cape on as well so he wouldn't freeze in the winter cold.

He had been only minding his own business when a group of guards came out of nowhere and grabbed a hold of him, catching him by surprise. He cursed under his breath for being so careless and letting a couple of idiots capture him. They dragged him to the Palace of Justice kicking and screaming, managing to get a few good blows on two or three of the guards before being knocked out.

By the time he woke up, he had been chained to cold, stoned-wall. He was unchained by one of the bastards and dragged literally away into a xhamber where a group of guards were. Clopin had faced their sadistic grinning guards in front of him while the torture began. Clopin remembered holding back his screams as they did their little fun-fun-Underground-torture-chamber on him. He growled at the memory of the grins and sick smirks they gave him while they did some of the most inhuman things on him.

He looked suddenly when he hard the crying and whimpering of…a child in a cell in front of him. He squinted his eyes in order to see the dark, even though the torches were alit, it was still hard to see in the dungeons. He then saw a bundle of clothing at the far corner of the cell, where a small head of messy, raven hair was seen and the sweet face of a young girl. Her teary eyes looking down while cuts and dirt covered her petit frame.

Clopn stared in shock at the child but soon narrowed his eyes anger. How could those bastards do this to a child?! Aren't children the most purest things in this world?

Clopin softened his expression when said child looked up at him, her crystal green eyes staring straight into his dark orbs. The girl trembled slightly from the cold down in the chambers but soon stopped, her interest and curious mind setting sight on the man in the other cell in front of her.

There was silence between the two, neither one knowing what to say next nor able to will themselves to look away from the other. Clopin could still see the innocence somehow still remaining in those green orbs of hers. The dried up tears staining the girl's cheeks while her from was covered by the much to small white garment. Clopin slightly blushed at the curves the small girl had at such an early age and the garment revealing her cleavage didn't help much.

The girl stood up then, the dirty white clothing swaying beside her as she steadily walked toward the cell bars. Clopin wearily watched the girl as she reached the bars, gripping on to them while keeping her eyes locked on his.

"W…What's your name...mister?" The girl's bell like voice rang through the air, making Clopin be awestruck by how entrancing the girl's voice sounded. "Cl…Clopin. Clopin Trouillefou. And, you are…?" Clopin's voice came out in a whisper due to him not speaking for about…a week or so. He waited fro the girl's answer. She paused for a moment before replying. "Avril…Desjardins"

Clopin gave a surprised look at Avril, daughter of one of dukes, here of all places for someone of her status.

Clopin raised a bloody eyebrow at her, as if question her of her true name.

Avril looked down, her tanned skin seemed to resemble that of a gypsy's. Clopin then concluded, perhaps that is why she is in here. Because the stupid, idiotic bastards thought she was a gypsy and threw in here. He growled at the thought and tugged at the chains. He hissed in pain at the pain coursing through his limps.

Avril worriedly look over at him, grabbing on to the bars and opened her mouth to say something but the sound of footsteps made her shut it.

A guard came into view, his face twisted into a scowl at the way Clopin was chained up. The guard looked to be in his late forties. His beard looked to be already aging as his weary blue eyes looked over at the battered form of the gypsy king.

Clopin glared at the guard but soon, a recognizable look took form. "Clovis? What are you doing here?" Clopin asked in a weak voice as the guard, Clove smiled gently at him. "Getting you out of here, what else should I be here? I've been gone for a week only and come back here to find you here? You need to take better care of yourself Clopin." Clovis said as he brought out his keys. He went into Clopn's cell and quickly unchained him, patting Clopin on the back making the gypsy king wince and hiss more in pain.

He then looked over at Avril in her cells, her green eye staring questionably at him. "What about her…?" Clovis looked over at Avril and was shocked at first but soon grumbled. "Idiots…" Clovis muttered under his breath as he opened Avril's cell, making the girl smile and jump out.

"Thank you mister…" Avril said as she blushed shly at Clovis.

Clovis had been aiding the gypsy in the Palace of Justice for some time now, getting a many of them out of here as possible which, sadly, if quite a few. Clopin had been friends with Clovis for a long time and had said he was welcomed in the Court of Miracles anytime. Clovis refused the offer, not wanting to be a nuisance to anyone and wanting instead to help wrongfully captured gypsies escape from the hellish place.

"I suggest we get out of here as soon as possible. Clopin, let me help you-!"

Clopin waved his hand at Clovis, telling him he could manage on his own. Clovis shook his head and picked up Avril, keeping an eye on Clopin as well as for any guards that may come passing by.

Clopin felt pain go throughout his body but remained steady in his walk, trying to look strong and brave.

-

Clopin sighed when they made it out of the Palace of Justice, slumping down against the alley wall with Avril by his side. Clovis had gone away when he thought that they were safe for now to go on their own. Clopin thanked Clovis for helping them and was grateful that the alleyway they were in was nearby the graveyard.

But there was one problem Clopin still had yet to figure out. He looked down at Avril and saw her twiddle her fingers as she sat down beside him. What to do with her?

"So, child, how exactly did…you come to be…in the Palace of Justice?" Clopin had to catch his breath when the injuries he had made it quite difficult to breath.

Avril set her gaze down, her hands stop what they were doing and clutched the white fabric. "…My mama put me in there because I was being a bad girl…"

A shocked look came on to Clopin, making him whip his head back down at the girl to see her crying. "But…I wasn't being a bad girl! I…I…I was only dancing…I didn't mean to have…people think I was a gypsy…" Avril sobbed silently to herself, curling up into a ball as Clopin digested the girl's words.

It then hit Clopin like a ton of bricks. He then knew why the girl looked so…familiar. She was the girl that people had been whispering about that is said to be half-gypsy. They said that the duke had knocked up a gypsy woman who died in giving birth and produced a half gypsy girl for a daughter. The duke then married another duke's daughter and was then the girl's stepmother.

The girl trembled through her crying, shivering from the cold.

Clopin shivered too but the realization made he rather rigid.

Avril leaned against Clopin for warmth, her revealed skin being preyed upon the snow.

Clopin then decided something that might be rash and could be dangerous but didn't really care, just as long as the decision was made. He was actually sickened by the girl's mother, reminding him of his own mother.

"Avril…How would you like to live in the Court of Miracles with me?"

Avril looked at Clopin in awe, wondering to herself if she was dreaming or not. "Ca…Can I…Really?"

Clopin smiled at her, bringing her closer to his body for warmth. "Yes, you can leave all of this behind. All of it…"

The girl looked down sadly then, a thought occurring to her. "What about Papa? Can I ever see him again?"

Silence was her reply, making the girl feel rather stupid for asking such a question. Clopin, however, answered anyways "I do not know. But, I think you'll be better off with me and my people."

Avril thought this over in her head, trying to decide what her answer will be. Finally , she opened her eyes and shyly smiled at Clopin. "Y…Yes. I would like to go."

Clopin smile widely at her and yelped when Avril yelled in a fit of happiness and hugged him tight, completely unaware of the pain she was outing Clopin through. "Ow! Ow!Ow!Ow!' Clopin thought in his head while Avril hugged him, letting him go after what seemed like a century.

Clopin winced in pain but soon got over it, getting to the task at hand. "First things first though, we need to change you name." Clopb pondered for a second in deciding names, voicing some out for Avril to hear but only got a look that said 'What kind of name is that?' from Avril.

Finally, Clopin came to a name that was sure to fit Avril and gain her liking. "How about…Esmerelda?" Avril thought the name over in her head, a ghost of a smile appearing then. "Yes! That name is perfect!"

Clopin laughed and said "Then Esmerelda it is!"

Avril, now known as Esmerelda jumped once again on Clopin, this time in his arms where she was caught in. Clopin held her bridal style while ignoring the pain going through out his limps, only wanting to keep on staring down at the girl in his arms.

Esmerelda slowly closed her eyes, her peaceful breathing reaching Clopin's ears. The soft look her gave her sleeping form was one of pity and understanding.

The way Esmerelda described her step-mother really reminded him of his own and made Clopin wonder just why their mother's treated them in such ways. Weren't mothers suppose to love their child and want to take good care of them. Apparently, Clopin's mother didn't nor did Esmerelda's step-mother, even though they weren't related, Esmerelda's step-mother still should of treated her nicely.

Clopin then had a memory surface in his mind. It was him when he was just a young boy, staring longingly at the children's mothers who smiled down at their child and patted them gently on the head. The jealousy Clopin felt in wanting to know a mother's love made him resent the children and wish his mother would treat him the same way the other mother's did. He was grateful to learn that his mother abandoned the court and left him and his father alone.

But that longing he still felt, even now, made him feel pitiful. Like as if he wasn't meant to know that love only a mother could give to their child.

Clopin made it to the catholic grave in which was the entrance to court. He opened the lid and closed it behind him as he entered the tunnel, Esmerelda in his arms.

Mother is God in the eyes of a child.

-

**R and R please!**


End file.
